Business Insider spoke with entertainer and viral phenomenon Michael Dapaah, also known as MC Big Shaq who performs the song “Mans not hot” about how he overcame fear and personal tragedy to help motivate him and drive him to success.Read the full transcript below:
Throughout the journey there’s been so many different factors. I had to overcome barriers of fear, inconsistency, believing in myself as an individual, and believing in the gift and believing that this could actually happen, and this is actually what I’m supposed to do.
You got your mum and that in your ear telling you: “Yo man, go and get a job that you know, will pay you.”
You know what I’m saying?
An exaggerated voice of my mum, but when she’s like, when she’s in her little zone, you hear the African twang pop up: “just go and get a job!”

So many different factors, and I think finding myself as an individual. Finding my faith and my belief in god. My faith and belief in – just like I said – in what it is that I want to do.

But I think the pivotal point for me was probably at the end of 2015. At that point, I had probably worked at Vodafone for about 2-years, part-time. And it got to the stage that I didn’t like my job, I didn’t like what I was doing, I just always felt there was more in my heart for me to do creatively.

And one of my close friends – who was the person that first filmed a YouTube sketch of mine when I was in college – he unfortunately took his own life, and that rocked me differently. Because I was just like: “Yo…”

Thinking someone that’s so bright, and had such a bright future, and was so enthusiastic has gone all the way to that point there. I was just like: “you know what, there’s just more to life than just this.”

So I just kinda just went away, came back, started creating, creating, creating. And you know, thank God we’re here today, and we’ve got more to come.”